Abortion

Abortion data from reports of
the Alan Guttmacher Institute

The AGI is a non-profit group which was founded in 1968 by Alan F.
Guttmacher (1898-1974). At the time, he was president of the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, an
obstetrician-gynecologist, an author and a leader in reproductive rights. It specializes in "reproductive health research, policy analysis and
public education....The Institute's mission is to protect the reproductive
choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world.
It is to support their ability to obtain the information and services needed
to achieve their full human rights, safeguard their health and exercise
their individual responsibilities in regard to sexual behavior and
relationships, reproduction and family formation." 1 Although the AGI is a pro-choice group, its data is widely accepted as
accurate and is used by both pro-choice and pro-life groups.

The AGI supplies information that is more current than the data from the
the Division of Reproductive
Health of the National
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. They
issued their report for the year 2002 in 2005-MAY.

Data from the Institute's 2005-MAY report:

Their report issued on 2005-MAY-19 was based on 2001 & 2002 data. They
found that the abortion rates in the U.S. continued to drop, although the
rate of decrease has slowed since the early 1990s:

The rate of abortion declined among women aged 15 to 44 from 21.3 in
2000 to 21.1 in 2001 and 20.9 in 2002 per 1000 women.

The total numbers of abortions dropped from 1,313,999 in 2000 to
1,303,000 in 2001 and to 1,293,000 in 2002. These are decreases of 0.8%
a year.

This compares with a rise in the number of abortions in the UK from
181,600 in 2003 to a record high of 185,400 in 2004 -- a 2% increase.
Abortions for girls under 14 years of age increased by 6%. 6

Pregnancy outcomes by state for 2001:

"Each year, six million of the 60 million American women of
childbearing age (15-44) become pregnant. 63% of these pregnancies result in
live births and 22% in abortions; the remainder end in miscarriage."
These data refer only to known pregnancies. There are many early pregnancies
that are terminated by miscarriages before the woman realizes that she had
become pregnant.

Pregnancy outcomes by state and are listed below. 2 The
percent of pregnancies that are terminated by abortion are influenced by
many factors, including:

The culture of the area

Its religious makeup (Conservative Protestants tend to have fewer
abortions; religious liberals, secularists, etc. tend to have more;
Roman Catholics tend to have slightly higher rate of abortions than the
national average.

Restrictions on abortion access (waiting times, parental notification,
parental permission). When a state introduces restriction on access, their
abortion rate tends to drop. However, the abortion rates in adjacent
states tend to rise as women leave the state to have an abortion.

The area's economy.

Availability of family planning services.

The existence and content of sex-education classes in schools.

The percentage of students who attend public schools.

States with exceptional rates (low and high) of abortions are highlighted.

State

% Live Births

% Abortions

%Miscarriages

Alabama

68

17

15

Alaska

69

16

15

Arizona

67

18

15

Arkansas

71

13

16

California

59

26

14

Colorado

65

20

15

Connecticut

62

23

15

Delaware

66

19

15

District of Columbia

37

50

13

Florida

58

28

14

Georgia

65

20

15

Hawaii

62

23

15

Idaho

74

10

16

Illinois

62

23

15

Indiana

69

15

15

Iowa

72

12

16

Kansas

71

13

16

Kentucky

73

11

16

Louisiana

70

14

15

Maine

68

17

15

Maryland

56

30

14

Massachusetts

57

29

14

Michigan

63

22

15

Minnesota

69

15

15

Mississippi

69

15

15

Missouri

69

15

15

Montana

69

15

15

Nebraska

72

12

16

Nevada

56

30

14

New Hampshire

64

21

15

New Jersey

55

31

14

New Mexico

68

16

15

New York

53

33

14

North Carolina

65

19

15

North Dakota

65

19

15

Ohio

67

18

15

Oklahoma

71

13

16

Oregon

65

20

15

Pennsylvania

66

19

15

Rhode Island

60

25

15

South Carolina

68

17

15

South Dakota

75

9

16

Tennessee

69

16

15

Texas

67

18

15

Utah

77

7

16

Vermont

65

20

15

Virginia

63

23

15

Washington

63

22

15

West Virginia

72

12

16

Wisconsin

69

15

15

Wyoming

67

17

15

Average for USA

63

22

15

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Overview of abortion in the U.S.:

Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) and the Alan
Guttmacher Institute (AGI) published an overview of abortion in 2003-JAN. 3 Some of the facts mentioned are:

52% of pregnancies are intended (at the time of conception) ; 48% are
unintended
(1994 data).

Of the approximately 3 million unintended pregnancies each year in the
U.S., 47% are terminated by abortion, 40% result in live births, and 13% end
in miscarriages.

There were 1.31 million abortions in the year 2000.

2.1% of all women of child-bearing age (15 to 44) had an abortion in
the year 2000.

The annual rate of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age has
dropped from 30 in 1980, to 21 during the year 2000.

The report quotes Darroch and Singh who concluded that the declining
pregnancy rate among teens is primarily due to better contraceptive use, and
secondarily due to lower rates of sexual intercourse.

The vast majority of are elective. Women generally decide to have an
abortion because of economic or other personal reasons. Approximately ten
to fifteen thousand abortions terminate pregnancies which resulted from
rape or incest each year. This is on the order of 1% of all abortions.

67.3% of women who have abortions have never been married; 17% are
married; 15.6% are separated, divorced or widowed.

71% of legal abortions are performed in clinics that specialize in
abortion. About 22% are done in other clinics. Only 5% are done in
hospitals.

There are about 430 clinics that specialize in abortion, and 400
multi-functional clinics that perform some abortions in the U.S. These
numbers have remained relatively constant from 1980 to 2000.

Abortions cost on the order of $400 if performed during the first
trimester. Costs go up greatly later in gestation.

In 2001, NARAL stated that more than 2,400 acts of violence have been
reported against abortion providers since 1997. This included bombings,
arson, death threats, murders, kidnapping and assault.

The abortion rate in the U.S. is lower than in the rest of the world.
About 5% of the world's population live in America and are responsible for
about 3% of the abortions. The abortion rate (number of abortions per
1,000 women of childbearing age -- 15 to 44) is 23 for the U.S. but 35 for
the world.

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